Long Beach Downtown Plan

Human Impact Partners, in collaboration with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and Californians for Justice, conducted a rapid HIA to examine how the proposed Long Beach Downtown Plan would impact the health and employment of residents, particularly low-income and vulnerable populations. The Long Beach Downtown Plan is a 25-year plan to add approximately 5,000 new residential units; 384,000 square feet of new retail; 96,000 square feet of restaurants; 800 new hotel rooms; 1.5 million square feet of new office spaces; and approximately 5,200 jobs. The HIA found that the current proposed plan would likely lead to an increase in housing displacement and unemployment rates for existing low-income residents, which may have negative health effects. The HIA made several recommendations, including adoption of affordable housing and local hiring community benefits to mitigate the impacts to low-income residents.